The game’s narrative takes place in Dubai, once one of the richest cities in the world, but which has since been rendered uninhabitable by cataclysmic sandstorms. The protagonist is Captain Martin Walker, who leads an elite Delta Force team sent to rescue U.S. Army Colonel John Konrad, who had been previously assumed to be dead. Col. Konrad commanded a unit in Dubai prior to the destruction of the city and a prior rescue team had been unsuccessful in its attempt to rescue him.

A large focus of the game is to provide a gripping cinematic experience that forces gamers to make decisions that do not necessarily have a right or wrong answer. For example, in one scene presented to us, Capt. Walker and his men came upon some soldiers who were about to assassinate a man and what appeared to be his significant other. This presented Capt. Walker and his men with a dilemma - take the soldiers out in an attempt to save the man and his companion but risk compromising their location to enemy troops who may be present in the area, or allow the enemy soldiers to commit murder in order to safeguard the mission. The decision made by players in this situation will alter the story moving forward. As a result, expect to see multiple possible endings for the game.

Combat in Spec Ops is very different from many of today’s popular first-person shooters in that it often takes place at very short range due to the blinding effects of the desert sand. The sand itself can be turned into a weapon as well. In one combat sequence, we observed Capt. Walker take out his enemies with a well-placed grenade that destroyed a wall, releasing sand to envelop his enemies. Spec Ops also features a cover system that is very similar to that of the Gears of Wars series in that you can dash in and out of cover and shoot around corners. Additionally, Capt. Walker can give basic hand signals to his squadmates to instruct them to take certain actions during the combat portions of the game, but such tactics are not vital to success in the game. However, keeping your squadmates alive is, and if you let one fall in combat, you will be returned to the last save checkpoint.

Click to continue to page 2 where we discuss the music and multi-player aspects of Spec Ops: The Line

Music was used to great effect in the footage we were shown. YAGER did not want to have a soundtrack that just repeated throughout the game, but instead wanted it to serve a purpose. From the gameplay footage we saw, the rock music changed contextually and served to heighten the tension of the firefights. This also provided a more movie-like experience.

For those who are interested in online and co-op play, Spec Ops is set to feature both competitive and team-based modes that will allegedly retain the strong sense of narrative of the single-player experience. In these modes, players will be able to level and customize their characters in addition to playing as a member of either the two warring factions.

The game was visually attractive and 2K Games provided us with some great new screenshots of the gameplay, which you can see below. Click on the specific photograph if you would like to view the larger version.

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You can also check out the E3 video trailer here.

Based upon what we’ve seen, if the story can deliver on the interesting starting premise, Spec Ops could bring a more thought-provoking and unnerving experience to the military genre than has been seen in other shooters to date.

Spec Ops: The Line is scheduled for a release some time in 2011 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC.